The 2021-22 Premier League season is finally here and will see newly promoted Brentford take on Arsenal in what will an interesting season opener on Friday at the Brentford Community Stadium with kickoff at 22:00.
This will be Brantford’s first Premier League match since 1947. The Bees earned their promotion through Championship playoffs where they beat Swansea City 2-0 in the final having won 4-1 on aggregate against Bournemouth in the semifinals.
As preparation for their long awaited new Premier League campaign Brentford went toe to toe with some of the big boys in the preseason and will start the season in a good form having only lost one match of their eight pre-season friendlies. Brentford claimed victories against Cambridge United Southend United, FC Wimbledon, Boreham wood, Watford and Valencia. Brentford also proved to be a good addiction to the Premier League by claiming a highly impressive 2-2 draw against Manchester United.
In the past none of the nine London teams before Brentford managed to win their first ever game in the Premier League but Thomas Frank’s side will be looking to change that when they face fellow London rivals Arsenal who are in an inconsistent form and might make it easy for Brentford to take all the three points.
Meanwhile Arsenal failed to qualify for the European football for the first time in 25 years following their eighth-placed finish last season. Arteta and his side will be looking to change that this time around with funs expecting at least top six finish this season.
Despite finishing last campaign in a high note with a five-match unbeaten run Arteta’s side have failed to convince their funs in the pre-season preparations and will be kicking off the new campaign in bad form as they have only managed to win two of their six preseason friendlies. Arsenal opened their preseason preparations with a 2-1 defeat to a Scottish side Hibernian before losing 2-1 to Chelsea and 1-0 to Tottenham in the final two preseason friendlies and will interesting to see what result Arteta’s side register in the opening league match against Brentford who have missed the Premier League for 74 years thus will be pushing for win too.
The last time these two met in a league action was back in 1947 a math that ended 1-0 in favor of Arsenal.
Brentford vs Arsenal head to head
The most recent encounter between the two sides was back in 2018 in an EFL cup match that ended 3-1 in favor of Arsenal. Take a look at their results from other previous encounters;
Home
- Brentford 2-1 Valencia
- Brentford 0-1 West Ham
- Man United 2-2 Brentford
- Cambridge United 1-3 Brentford
- Boreham 0-2 Brentford
Away
- Tottenham 1-0 Arsenal
- Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
- Rangers 2-2 Arsenal
- Hibernian 2-1 Arsenal
- Arsenal 2-0 Brighton
Brentford team news
Brentford have no reports of any missing players ahead of the Friday Premier League opener.
Arsenal team news
Arsenal will be without their crucial midfielder Thomas Partey who is set to be out for the rest of the month after picking an ankle injury sustained in the preseason action against Chelsea. Gabriel Magalhaes remains out with a knee injury while Rob Holding will also miss the opener due to a fitness problem.
Prediction and odds
- Arsenal win
- Double chance
- Both sides to score
